Page 27 of Facet

Which was funny considering when I was with Willow, despite all my convictions against love, I didn’t feel awkward. Nor did I still feel my previous stubborn resistance to her draw. It now seemed crazy that I’d been able to wait so long.

Despite the late hour, the brothers started responding to the message one by one. Everyone was on their way in. I was humbled and oddly touched.

Venom pulled out his favorite whiskey and poured us each a shot which we downed.

Squirrel was the first to arrive at the office door. Then again, he was one of a few of us that still lived at the clubhouse full-time. Hawk was the next as he and Julia lived in the farmhouse on the edge of the hog farm property he’d inherited.

The four of us moved to the chapel. As we sat, the rest of the brothers filtered in. Ghost, Sabre, Voodoo, Angel, and Chains came in and I expected to see Phoenix, Blade, and Raptor but then remembered they were all in Texas. I was happy for them, but I missed my friends. Kicker came in and shut the door.

Gods, I sounded like a fucking pussy.

We were missing E and Goob, but honestly, they were essentially retired. We didn’t expect them to come in for most things. I knew Venom wouldn’t have messaged them this late. Everyone took their seats and waited patiently.

After taking a fortifying breath, I told them everything that had happened and everything I knew.

“It’s always the quiet ones,” Kicker muttered, shaking his head.

“Christ, bro, ain’t that the truth?” Ghost chimes in.

“Fuck all of you. This isn’t funny. Like how is this even real? It can’t be, right? Except I know what I saw. My mother used blood magic to bring my father to us. He fucking appeared right in front of me, and he wasn’t happy. Worse, the minute he got there he was furious.”

“I bet he was,” Hawk soberly observed. “Your mother kept you from him for almost thirty years. That does something to a man.”

With his words, I felt bad, because Hawk obviously felt my father’s pain—he also had a child he didn’t find out about until she was grown. Not as old as I was, but it was still tough on him.

“I doubt it was a feeling of loss he experienced. We aren’t talking about a man full of sentimentality. He’s a fucking demon. It was straight up anger over what she’d done. He didn’t know I existed because what my mother did was to steal a part of him and then hide me!” With each word I spoke, my volume grew and my grip on my sanity slipped.

I’d always operated under the belief that I was a warlock. I had magic that I kept quiet, despite the fact that Phoenix’s ol’ lady was a witch. People knew I was smart as fuck and I was a wizard with a computer. That’s all they had needed to know.

Until now.

Now I was part—no,all—demon. Which was bizarre because I didn’t feel evil, nor had I ever thought my mother was evil.A shitty mother, maybe, but evil? No. But I had to find out exactly what I was. I’d already killed one person by literally sucking the life out of him.

My world as I knew it was shattered and upended. I no longer knew where I belonged or how to navigate my new reality.

“Just because he’s a demon, doesn’t mean he—or you—lack emotion or feeling. If it’s any consolation, I’m essentially a demon as well. You do realize all original demons are fallen angels,” Sabre offered with an apologetic wince.

Well fuck. Now I really feel like an asshole.

As if he could read my thoughts, Sabre grinned. “Brother, it’s all good. When people are raised to think all demons are scary, boogeymen under your bed and are waiting to drag you to hell, what do you expect?”

I breathed deeply and let it out with a heavy sigh.

“I know you’re right, but my head is all over the place. On top of this shit, some guy was harassing Willow tonight. He said some something that fucked with her head. I still don’t understand why we can’t find any kind of trail for Willow’s biological family. So now I’ve got that and my heritage driving me absolutely bat shit crazy,” I muttered, throwing my head back and closing my eyes.

“If you had something of Willow’s from her childhood I could touch… I mean…,” Chains trailed off, his brow creased and his dark eyes full of remorse that he couldn’t do much. I had nothing to go on at the moment.

“Wait,” Sabre burst out as he shot upright in his chair. Everyone’s heads swiveled to look at him. “The creepy guy that touched Willow at the club tonight. He said something that scared her—something about her growing up. I never saw him, but what if he was connected to this somehow? What if that comment he made meant he knew her as a child?” Sabre focused on Chains. I felt like he was grasping at straws because why on earth would the people who stole Willow as a baby be following her now?

“Oh, no. Uh uh. I’m not touching Willow. Do you know how much shit I would get bombarded with?” Chains stared at Sabre like he’d lost his mind.

Truthfully, I wished Chains could handle touching her. He might be able to access memories that she was too young to have consciously retained. I’d never ask him that though, because I knew how bad it fucked him up when he touched a person directly.

“Right, I get it, but what about her T-shirt? She said he pushed her shirt up,” Sabre clarified. “She didn’t wash it, did she?”

“I have no clue. I told her to wait in my room, so I doubt it.” I shrugged, but I was already on my feet and heading toward the door. “I’ll be right back.”

It was a long shot, but I raced down the hall to my room and barged in. The shower was running, but I was more interested in the tiny scrap of fabric Willow wore to work. It was in a heap with the rest of her clothes on the floor. Using a glove that I pulled from the bag I took to crime scenes, I picked it up and hurried back to the chapel.

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